How 1.5 Million Plastic Bottles Are Turned Into Clothing Every Day | World Wide Waste

Polyester is one of the most popular fabrics in the world. Made from PET plastic, it is prized for its durability, lightness, and low cost of production. While these characteristics make it ideal for various uses across the textile industry, the oversupply of polyester has also fueled an environmental disaster. Now, brands like Adidas, Nike, and Shein are trying to increase the amount of polyester made from recycled plastics -- but is this the best use of old plastic? We visited Tamil Nadu, India, to see how one company makes clothing from used plastic bottles and whether this is the best solution for this waste stream.

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00:00 - Intro
00:50 - Meet The Founders
01:20 - Collecting Plastic Bottles
01:56 - Sorting Plastic Bottles
03:06 - Secondary Sorting And Hot Washing
04:01 - Molecular Structure And Applications Of Pet
04:22 - Melting, Dope Dyeing, And Stretching Pet Fibers
05:33 - Drawing, Crimping, And Baling Fibers
06:42 - Turning Fibers Into Yarn
08:16 - Historic Use And Demand For Synthetic Fibers
09:54 - Brands Using Recycled Polyester
10:12 - How Shree Renga Makes Clothing
12:07 - Environmental Impact Of Synthetic Fibers
12:29 - Challenges And Solutions For Recycling Synthetic Fibers
12:53 - H&M's Fiber-To-Fiber Recycling Experiment
15:45 - The Future And Challenges Of Fiber-To-Fiber Recycling
17:00 - Emissions, Traceability, And Bottle-To-Bottle Recycling
17:33 - Founders Concluding Thoughts
18:07 - Credits

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How 1.5 Million Plastic Bottles Are Turned Into Clothing Every Day | World Wide Waste

[Leaveyourcarrunninginthegarage]

And washing this clothing puts tons of microplastics into the water supply. There is literally no end to the ways we are being poisoned by petrochemicals

[mediumsmoke]

Best solution is to buy high quality clothes made from cotton, hemp fibre etc. and wear them as long as possible.

[IgorAlexeyM]

Am I the only one who dislikes polyester? It feels uncomfortable, makes you sweaty and smelly, and doesn't absorb water

[maciejwidacki]

and those clothes are spreading plastic all around... microplastic is stored directly in our bodies... how great is it

[adnanbezerra]

when are we going to stop pretending we all don't know the only reason why polyester clothing is so popular is because it's cheaper for the manufacturer, while sometimes selling as expensive as cotton and linen, and the rest is marketing?

[lunaa]

being from a hot and humid climate and using polyester on your clothes and bedsheets arent the best combo

[MelodiedeVivre]

While the idea is innovating and I appreciate the hustle to reuse over waste, if large clothing brands, especially fast fashion brands, or any companies that work synthetic textiles are not forced to use recycled polyester there is no point. Like everyone else said in the comments, this is a band-aid solution addressing plastic waste. But we actually need to target the original source of the problem which is overusing plastic and being wasteful with it. ALSO I think most consumers still prefer wearing organic fabrics.

[nopenope]

I HIGHLY suggest you buy only cotton clothes. Polyester leeches into your skin and into the water supply when washed

[limt]

Microplastics galore!
Credit where credit is due, kudos to this team who figured out how to turn plastic waste into textile fibres but main issue is that plastic production is still increasing year by year and recycling it is a joke

[Monsterkey]

There's also the fact that more than 75% of recycled plastic is unusable because the melting of the plastics destroys a lot of those polymer chains, which is why it can only be recycled so many times.

[adrianchan]

alot of people hate on this but the science and work put in to making this allows us to re use plastics. people can hate on it but he is actually doing something for society.

[maxmusterkann]

I love to see India thrive! Greetings from germany!

[maryannedaugherty]

Most people with negative comments don't realize they have been buying and wearing these clothes for years. Check the tags. If you buying anything besides 100% cotton you are buying plastic!

[la]

The people complaining in the comments are missing the point. Even if you don't like polyester because of microplastics, this company is still prolonging the life of single use plastic by reusing it and giving it a few more years before it ends up in a landfill somewhere. Yes it is not perfect but it still makes a big difference. The idea that we are all going to suddenly stop using single use plastic is delusional it is everywhere. That is going to take another 20-50 years minimum. In the meantime it should be recycled.

[MsLisaLisa]

This is a fascinating process. But I've been seeing a lot of companies "green washing" and replacing cotton clothes with clothes made from recycled plastic. It's really annoying when you prefer cotton and dont want to pay luxury prices for something that used to be affordable.

[ishitasinha]

The utter idiocy of people in this comment section not understanding that polyester is not just for garments. (Even though it is a major component for durability in some types of clothing). It is a very important material to make bag backs, shoes, tent equipment, sporting equipment, ropes etc where you need the durability of a polyester. Things that cotton can’t make.
Not every thread is made to sleep in
Also, cotton farming is an extremely water consuming activity. Even treating few meters of cotton can take up to 20L of water. Its not a magic fabric. Nothing is .
Cotton and polyester can have their own purposes. It doesn’t need to be one or the other
This company on to something big in their own right

[potato]

Moral of the story, don't shop fast fashion

[Brahh]

This is actually horrible...

What's even more ridiculous that fashion brands are increasingly using Polyester in their expensive clothing.

[themarquis]

Making trash from trash. Brilliant 👏🏻
This is really going to save the planet.

[DennisMook-kylx]

I just want to say turning rubbish into bricks battery boxes and clothes absolutely amazing